


You make me smile

by Hemera7437



Series: SNS Summer Week 2017 [3]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Kid Uzumaki Naruto, Light Angst, M/M, SNS Summer Week 2017, there is almost always a fox in my fics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-22
Updated: 2017-06-22
Packaged: 2018-11-17 10:18:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11273457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hemera7437/pseuds/Hemera7437
Summary: There is always a brighter future ahead(Can be read as continuation of "Home at last" and "Never leave me")





	You make me smile

**Author's Note:**

> SNS Summer Week 2017  
> Day 5: Family

Naruto was running. He didn’t want to be in the village anymore. They all hated him anyway. They threw rocks at him, they threw food at him, they threw mean comments at him. He was sick of it.  
He was no monster, no ‘demon’, no disgrace for the village. He just wanted to be Naruto.  
But the people didn’t see him as Naruto. And he was tired of it.

They didn’t want him anyway.

So he ran.

Out of Konoha, into the woods, straight ahead, anywhere really. He wasn’t even looking where he was going, just wanting to get away from everything. His tears made his vision too blurry to see anyway.

He scraped his bare arms and legs on the bushes but he didn’t slow down.

The sun went down, but he didn’t stop. He kept running through the dense forest until he didn’t know where he was. Only then did he slow down to a walk, but he didn’t stop.

After a while he couldn’t feel his legs anymore, so he plopped down where he stood, on the forest floor and cried. Cried for everything that happened to him, because he was sick of smiling. For the moment he didn’t want to put up a strong front.

But when the tears stopped, he didn’t stand up. And as the chilly night wind picked up, he still sat on the damp forest floor in a t-shirt and short pants.

Suddenly he heard rustling. Something was moving in the bushes. Naruto was scared, he froze.

And then he saw it. The most beautiful animal he’d ever laid eyes on. With a vulpine grace came a fox out of the undergrowth. Naruto gaped at it. It was crimson red and looked _so_ fluffy.

And it came straight to him. He didn’t dare move.

And then the wonder happened: it came to him and made itself comfortable in Naruto’s lap, cuddling up to him!

That moment Naruto forgot everything that ever troubled him. This beautiful fox had chosen him. _Him._ Naruto, not the monster, the demon, the disgrace, just Naruto.

Naruto wept from joy and cradled the fox in his arms, it was a second wonder that it didn’t run.

And so the blond haired boy fell asleep with a fox in his arms, somewhere in the forest of Konoha and he had the best sleep he’d had in years.

\-----

Naruto woke up panting. Why was he dreaming of his childhood loneliness _now_ ? Life had been going fine for Naruto the last few years, after _he_ came back to him.

Instinctively he reached out to the other bedside. It was empty and cold. A feeling of dread overcame him.

It had been many years since he felt alone, but Naruto had still abandonment issues. What if he broke his promise and had left again? What if Naruto was too late to stop him? What if he left for good this time? What if something had happened to him? What if...

He started to panic and shot up out of the bed, not even bothering to put on any clothes.

So he tumbled around his house in his boxers, hair still tousled from sleep.

When he finally stumbled into the kitchen, his panic was immediately blown away.

_There he is._

Naruto’s family.

Sasuke had an apron thrown over his body that was otherwise only clad in boxers. He looked almost as if he too had just rolled out of bed.

And he was making pancakes.

The sweet smell invaded Naruto’s nose and his mouth immediately began to water. His Sasuke was still there and was making him pancakes even though the raven didn’t like sweets. Even though Sasuke was not a morning guy and despised waking up earlier than Naruto, being grumpy the whole morning until he had at least two cups of coffee.

Naruto had no reason whatsoever to have a dream about his childhood loneliness when this was  his everyday reality now.

He and Sasuke still had stuff to work on and sometimes they just pissed each other off too much, but they loved each other and they would stay together forever. After all the things they’d been through it was a fact.

Sasuke had not yet noticed him, he was far to engrossed on the pancakes and it was too early in the morning so his shinobi reflexes were not quite on point yet. So Naruto decided to make himself known.

“Good morning, teme.”

His love turned around. His beautiful dark eyes still heavy from sleep, not quite awake yet.

“This is early even for your standards, dobe,” he just said and turned around to his task again.

“Yeah, I had a nightmare.” Naruto sighed and pushed his bangs out of his face while sitting down at the table. His hair was getting quite long again.

Sasuke stiffened slightly at his words, as always expecting the worst.

“About what?” he asked without even turning back.

“Me, as a child. I ran away from Konoha, ran through the whole forest before I collapsed. I found a fox though, even got to cuddle it. It had probably sensed Kurama and didn’t see me as a threat. Not that my childhood self knew that. At the time, it seemed like a miracle to me. Gave me hope again. I went back to the village. Don’t know if I would have if I hadn’t met this fox…” Naruto trailed off at the sight of Sasuke’s face.

It held a sadness in it that was normally too heavily guarded by the raven to ever show. Sasuke looked so vulnerable in that moment. Naruto almost wanted to cry.

“You were always so much stronger than me,” his love whispered. “At the time you dealt with this crushing loneliness, while I was just a little brat. And when I was in the same situation as you, I broke down. And you… you… you even stayed in this wretched village that robbed you of your childhood. That contained so many people who hated you. You can’t imagine how strong you are, Naruto, for still staying your happy, energetic self. I was so jealous of you. But I’ve come to admire it. It is mesmerizing, to watch you. You bring hope to everyone around you. Even me. And I couldn’t be more grateful for that.”

By now Naruto was crying silently. Sasuke had been so sincere, so open, to him only a handful of times. When they had blown each other’s arms off, when Naruto had asked if he could kiss Sasuke and when Sasuke had proposed.

It never failed to make his heart pound out of his chest.

This was his home, his family, his life. No longer lonely, his heart filled completely by a smug, infuriating raven and he wouldn’t have it any different.

Sasuke turned around and placed the pancakes in front of Naruto on the table.

“Happy birthday, usuratonkachi.”

And Naruto smiled.

**Author's Note:**

> Fun fact: this actually was the first and only thing I wrote for the SNS Week and I recycled a 10Minute-Prompt for it.  
> But then came WhenTheFoxGRINS and made a comment about this work and next thing I knew the drabbles for day 3 and 4 came into existence.
> 
> Please let me know what you think.  
> Comments and Kudos make me happy <3


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